RALEIGH, NC – Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has agreed to terms with defenseman Keegan Lowe on a three-year, entry-level contract. At the NHL level, the deal will pay Lowe $610,000 in 2013-14, $660,000 in 2014-15 and $710,000 in 2015-16. At the AHL level, he would be paid $67,500 per season, and the deal also includes a $235,000 signing bonus. He will remain with his junior team, the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League (WHL), as they enter the postseason as the first seed in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

Lowe, 19, has 15 goals and 15 assists (30 points) in 63 games with the Oil Kings this season. The Greenwich, CT, native leads his team, and ranks second among WHL defensemen and fifth among all WHL skaters with 148 penalty minutes, and his team-leading plus-37 plus/minus rating is tied for seventh among WHL blueliners. His 15 goals rank first on Edmonton’s blue line and tied for eighth among league defensemen.

In four WHL seasons, Lowe (6’2”, 200 lbs.) has scored 22 goals, earned 69 assists (91 points) and accumulated 470 penalty minutes in 275 regular-season games with the Oil Kings. He totaled seven points (3g, 4a) and 44 penalty minutes, while playing in all 20 of Edmonton’s games en route to the 2012 WHL championship. The Hurricanes drafted Lowe in the third round, 73rd overall, in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. He is the son of Edmonton Oilers President of Hockey Operations and six-time Stanley Cup champion Kevin Lowe.